Add the PWI Blog to Your Google Homepage

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

"PWI 500" Errors: The Resolution

After much back and forth with staff members and contributors, we have decided that the best course of action for dealing with the errors in the "PWI 500" is to take the unprecedented step of reissuing the rankings. These changes will not be reflected in either the digital or print editions of the magazine, as the mistakes were detected too late.

The revised "PWI 500"will supersede the published version and be viewed as "official."

The original "500" contained several regrettable mistakes. There was an instance where a wrestler's bio was inadvertently left off a page, two instances in which the same wrestler appeared twice on the list, and one in which an elite star was omitted entirely.

On the original list, Bray Wyatt was listed at both 167 and 244. Silver Kain was listed at 182 and again at 283 as Silver King. Cody Deaner's 207 never made it to the published page. And, after a superb year, Hiroshi Tanahashi was left off the list entirely.

In the case of Wyatt, his second listing in the "500" was intended for Yoshihiro Tajiri, so that's an easy fix. In the case of Silver Kain, we did not have a wrestler selected for the second spot, so to scratch number 283 off the list means we'd have only 499 wrestlers in the ranking.

That opens a spot for the deserving Tanahashi. Since it was our intention all along to rank him in the number-11 position, that is precisely what we are going to do. Frankly, it was never our intention to rank Hiroyoshi Tenzan in that number-11 spot, but that's where he ended up in the published editions. He was supposed to be number 81.

So here's the bottom line. Tanahashi is now the official number 11. Tenzan is number 81. With the exception of Tanahashi at 11, numbers 1-80 remain intact. All those wrestlers ranked from 82-282 will be dropped one slot. Numbers 284-500 remain intact.

Why are we doing this? Several reasons. 1) We want to be accurate. There will always be debate as to where wrestlers rank on a list such as this, which is expected and welcomed. If someone is to be left off the list, we want it to be for the right reasons--certainly not because of our screw-up. You can review Tanahashi's credential in the previous blog post. He deserves his number-11 ranking (and, we can guess, higher in the eyes of many). 2) The historical significance of the "PWI 500." The list isn't just printed in one issue of PWI and forgotten. The "PWI 500" is re-run in our Almanac, referenced on Wikipedia, and the previous year's ranking is listed when a new list is compiled. We have an obligation to posterity to do what is necessary to make this right. 3) The wrestlers shouldn't be shortchanged. Being listed in the "500" is not going to make or break the career of an established star like Tanahashi, but, as CM Punk told us this year, "I see this as being honored by my peers, which is what it's all about for me ... To be spotlighted by your magazine like this is a true honor."

We are, of course, sorry that our own negligence made these steps necessary. We apologize to our readers who purchased the magazine and will not have a list that is 100 percent accurate. We also apologize to the wrestlers who will lose one slot on the official "500" listing. And, finally, we promise to come up with safeguards to prevent this from happening again.

Has PWI thought about recognizing only the WWE title as a world title since the overlap of talent, hence stripping the World heavyweight title of its world title status? When WCW had the WCW and NWA/WCW International titles, PWI only recognized the WCW title as a world title.